


Twisted Tango

by forgeturself



Series: What We Could Have Become [2]
Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Can be read as gen, Canon Dialogue, Gen, M/M, Mild Gore, POV McCullum, Pre-Slash, but we all know how well their third meeting goes in canon, endgame McReid might be showing if you squint, maybe slightly less Enemies to hopefully not Enemies anymore in the near future, retelling of the second meeting between Reid and McCullum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25851100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgeturself/pseuds/forgeturself
Summary: The leech turned around slowly, not as surprised at the hunter’s appearance as he would have liked it to be. “McCullum!” Its voice was sharp, obviously annoyed, and it made McCullum preen with delight.
Relationships: Geoffrey McCullum & Jonathan Reid
Series: What We Could Have Become [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875805
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	Twisted Tango

The hunter watched from the darkness of his corner as yet another Skal ran past him and jumped the railing with an exited shriek to join the fray beneath. And just like the rest of its kin it soon had its undead existence cut short by a blade thrust straight through its rib cage. The vampire wielding the sword jumped back so fast its form blurred into streaks of shadows, only narrowly avoiding the poisonous fumes when the Skal exploded into a cloud of sickly green vapour with a last gurgled screeching noise. The wider spray of guts and chunks of wet flesh still hit the leech as it didn’t manage to stay clear and added another layer of red grime to its already soiled clothes.

With a hiss the vampire dodged the serrated claws of another Skal, only to miscalculate and appear directly in the line of a thick, deformed mass of meat lashing out at it. The creature was hurled to the other side of the theatre where its back hit the ground with a disgusting crack of bone and wood. There was something extremely satisfying about the image of the Ekon coughing up blood and slipping on a ground covered in a filthy mix of gore and sickness as it scrambled to its feet to avoid another slap of mutated flesh that splintered through a wooden rack instead.

McCullum smirked at the thought how the leech would try and pretend to be human now. With its coat hanging in ribbons off its shoulders and the once pristine suit caked in blood, there was no shred left of the put-together Ekon masquerading as a respectable doctor in Pembroke. Not even Swansea would look at his pet and see anything other than a rabid dog. But his smile was short lived as a clean, commanding voice cut through the chaos:

“I smell your fear.” And it was by a hair’s breadth that the leech didn’t get sliced in half by a sabre. Next to the abomination Doris Fletcher had become, the leech looked almost tame in comparison. McCullum suppressed a shiver as he was reminded of the stories of his old mentor. Where Ekons sought to at least keep their cattle alive, Ichors spread death and disease to wipe out the human race in its entirety. There was no ulterior motive to their actions, no intricate plan to unfold, just mass graves and the overwhelming stench of decay when no one was left to shovel them up.

The hunter grimaced as he made the decision, which one of the creatures he’d rather face after their fight had come to an end. It was easier than it should be.

When the next Skal rushed past him to aid its queen, he stepped out of his corner and ran his longsword right through its back. Impaled and half immobilized by the steel it could barely turn around to watch the bolt piercing the side of its skull. McCullum kicked the thing to slide off his sword and retreated hastily back through the door to hide behind the wall as the explosion splattered the ground with green mucus.

Immediately faced with the next deformed Skal jumping at him, he was relieved to see two of his Guard coming up from behind it. Toby, the older of the Sheen brothers, lifted his crossbow and in the next moment a heavy bolt struck the creature between its shoulder blades and brought it to its knees where Vincent finished it off easily.

“Clear!” McCullum bellowed. He’d seen the damage it did to the leech and he didn’t want to imagine what it did to a human, but it wasn’t the first ill-formed Skal they had killed this evening and the men knew to jump back even before his warning.

“Come to me, my children. Avenge me!”, they heard the voice of the late Mrs. Fletcher demand and suddenly three more Skals came running. McCullum growled and bared his teeth as he shot off three burning bolts before he chose to charge in instead of reloading. The fight turned into a blur after that and the Guard had trouble enough watching out for each other, never mind paying attention to the fight between the Ekon and the Ichor below them.

When suddenly the Skals stumbled and stopped fighting, stunned and aimless, their heads cocked to the same direction like they were listening to a chorus no one else could hear, McCullum noticed the silence all the more. The gurgled screeches, the splintering wood, the impact of flesh against flesh, it all had stopped, the fight had come to an end. The hunter was surprised to feel a nervous churning in his guts. Sure, he had to admit to himself that he didn’t look forward to facing the horrifying monstrosity of an Ichor next. But his mind was already running through all the weapons the Guard brought with them and coming up with different attack plans to take the creature down. They’d go in with white phosphorus and flame throwers, and if everything failed they’d torch the whole building. So, as he was fairly sure they could take on the Ichor and win, what else was he worried about?

While the Guard finished the Skals off with ease, McCullum rushed to the railing and almost laughed in relief as he found the Ichor already crumbled to the ground and bright alight with flames. The leech stood only a few steps away, its head slightly bowed, watching as the fire burned away flesh and bone.

“Farewell, Doris.”, he heard the Ekon say solemnly as if it were paying its last respect to a person instead of a sick, rotting corpse that had been dead for months already. It looked almost… sad.

McCullum shook his head to disperse the illusion. Spite bubbled angrily up his throat and he didn’t fight the wide grin that spread over his face. In a mockery of applause he clapped his hands slowly. “Bravo! So dramatic! I love it!” He wouldn’t give the monster another moment to revel in this grotesque masquerade of humanity.

The leech turned around slowly, not as surprised at the hunter’s appearance as he would have liked it to be. “McCullum!” Its voice was sharp, obviously annoyed, and it made McCullum preen with delight - though he had to be careful not to let it get to his head that the thing even knew him by his name.

“How strange.” He pondered, leaning seemingly relaxed onto the railing, hiding his hands as he span his crossbow. “I seem to find you whenever I’m inquiring about that Skal infestation.” He didn’t expect the leech to give him any kind of hints about its motives, but in that moment his curiosity got the better of him.

“I mean you no harm.”, the vampire said instead and with brisk steps made its way towards the exit.

McCullum merely scoffed at the thinly veiled excuse for retreat. Though it was hiding its exhaustion well and there wasn’t even a hitch in its step or blood flowing from any open wound, the hunter had enough experience with its kind to know how the creature had to be struggling after the punishing fight. He wondered if this was the moment to take it down, no sacred ground this time, no Brotherhood to watch out for it.

He hesitated, and a tiny voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Carl was already throwing insults at him for that. But he could use this leech. It had proven its capability to kill even the most horrendous monsters of its kind. The Guard hadn’t lost one man in today’s victory, and for McCullum those were the only victories worth celebrating. He knew the vampire epidemic was far from over and Doris Fletcher would not have been the strongest obstacle in this war. “I’m not here for you!” The hunter had use for an attack dog, he only hoped he wouldn’t come to regret it. “But once I’ve put all the pieces of the puzzle together,” the grin was back on his face, his voice dangerously condescending as he felt the creature’s eyes boring into him. “I’m sure we’ll have a little chat, you and me.” Already, the Guard had the leech and its accomplices under close observation. When the day came to get rid of it, it would be child’s play.

As if the creature knew what the hunter was thinking it spat out its own warning: “Stay away from me, McCullum. You and all your war dogs.”

“That I can’t guarantee, Doctor Reid.” McCullum sneered, watching the vampire back away from the men entering the theatre armed with swords and burning torches. It made him a bit proud to see them move towards the leech so casually. “But I’ll let you go, for now.” With that, the vampire made its exit, steps almost quickened to a run as it passed through the door and slammed it shut behind.

The leader of the Guard sighed heavily and let himself slump down into a chair. Absentmindedly he rubbed over a sore bruise on his shoulder where one of the Skals had managed to throw him into a wall. They still had to scrub the building of any vampires left, and then came the boring and tedious part of sifting through all documents about Doris Fletcher they could find. Hopefully one of them would point them to the next clue in this scavenger hunt, because McCullum had little idea where to go from here.

Sometimes he did wish, the leech and its friends from the Brotherhood were more cooperative and forthcoming with any kind of information, but in the next moment discarded the whole notion. There had been a well-fed animosity between the groups ever since the Guard of Priwen splintered off the Brotherhood over a hundred years ago. Their goals and means were opposite sides of a coin. Nothing about that was going to change any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, just pretending Reid doesn't kill the Sheen brothers when they ambush him. I'm sure it's only a flesh wound.


End file.
